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Container List

Series II. Questionnaires, 1948-1950. 8.0 Linear feet

Arrangement Note

The series is arranged with the 1948 questionnaires followed by the 1950 questionnaires.
The 1948 questionnaires are arranged in numerical order, based on the segment number
written on each questionnaire. All four waves of the 1948 questionnaire are found
together. Each of the two waves of the 1950 questionnaires are arranged separately,
each wave also in segment number order.

Scope and Contents Note

The series contains the completed questionnaires used in the Elmira study (although
it is not known if every single completed questionnaire remains in the collection).
Four “waves” of questionnaires, following the so-called “panel method” of repeated
interviews, are found in the series. Three of these waves date from before the 1948
election (June, August and October) and a fourth from just after the election in November.
Two waves of questionnaires from 1950 (April and July) are also in the series, although
the relation of these to the study is unclear as they are not mentioned in the published
results.

The questionnaires, especially the three pre-election surveys, touched on an extensive
array of matters, including the interviewee’s attitude toward the various candidates
in the primary and general campaigns, their intentions to vote one way or the other,
the influences on their choices, and their views on key issues (notably Russia, labor
and management relations, the growth of corporations and government regulation of
industry, the Israeli-Arab conflict, and the United Nations). The questionnaires also
include demographic information, including organizations that the interviewee associated
with and the resulting political influences. In addition to the checked-off answers
and brief notations on the questionnaires, there are also some longer form answers
to interview questions. (Reproductions of the questionnaire forms can be found in
an appendix in Bernard Berelson, et al.’s
Voting.)

In order to link the questionnaires to particular respondents and to each other, each
questionnaire was given a unique code that was formed by reference to the wave, segment,
and household interviewed. For example, the questionnaire numbered as 001-145-004
indicates that it was the first wave questionnaire, implemented in the 145th segment
of Elmira, given to the fourth household/interviewee from that segment. Questionnaire
002-145-004 would be the second wave given to the same household. (A map showing the
segment numbers and location can be found in Series I, in the folders “Maps of Elmira.”)

Container 1

Container 2

Title

Date

Box: 5

Folder : 37-38

Questionnaires (2 folders)

Scope and Contents Note

Includes questionnaires that appear to be outside the principal ones used in the survey.
These are from Elmira and other locales, and might be test surveys.